Female Judge Orders Boy, 16, Stripped in Her Courtroom

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on 8/28/04 that a Nevada judge recently ordered a 16-year old boy stripped down to nothing but his jockey shorts in front of her and the whole packed courtroom, just because she didn't like the t-shirt he was wearing.

The videotape of the hearing was ordered released to the news media.

''Take your shirt off,'' Hearing Master Sylvia Beller is heard on the video saying. ''You can just walk out of here without a shirt on.''

After the boy takes off his shirt, leaving him barechested, Beller orders a bailiff to take the boy into custody. After the boy is handcuffed, Beller then tells the bailiff to remove the boy's belt from his pants.

''You might as well take the belt and let his pants fall off,'' Beller said. ''You are going to take the belt anyway. Take the belt. Get rid of that belt.''

The bailiff tells Beller that if the belt is removed, the boy's pants might fall down because he is in handcuffs.

''Oh well,'' Beller muses.

The boy's belt is removed, and his pants fall to the floor, leaving him standing in open court in nothing but his white boxers.

Did the boy deserve this humiliation just because the judge didn't like his t-shirt?

Yes.

No.

Judge Beller was docked a month's pay. But the ACLU's Allen Lichtenstein said a more appropriate punishment would be to make Beller disrobe in public.

''Poetic justice would have her reprimanded by having her do exactly what she required him to do,'' the lawyer said.

Which would be a more appropriate punishment for the judge?

Nothing.

Lose a month's pay.

Lose her job.

Made to strip down to her bra and panties in open court.

Made to strip down to just her panties in open court .

If Beller was made to strip down to nothing but her panties in open court, should she be handcuffed with her hands behind her back, too?

Yes.

No.

If Beller was made to strip down to nothing but her panties in open court, and had her hands handcuffed behind her back, should a videotape of her exposed like that be released to the news media?